Iterations 301 - 412 – Two fingers
by Darkpenn
Summary: Sometimes, the only way to play the game is to change the rules.


**Iterations #301 - #412 – Two fingers**

 _Sometimes, the only way to play the game is to change the rules._

The farmhouse. The helicopter. Rita dying.

The farmhouse. The helicopter. Rita dying.

The farmhouse. The helicopter. Rita dying.

The farmhouse. The helicopter. Rita dying.

And so on.

After the first hundred or so – maybe more, who was counting – iterations from the one where he had first met Rita, he had found that he felt lighter as he walked across the training arena. There she was, doing some weird sort of exercise, all taut muscle and wired-up attitude. She was the link to what passed for reality. It was her strength, he knew, that had kept him sane, kept him moving, kept him from crawling into a bottle of bourbon and staying there forever.

But there was no sense of pleasing anticipation this time. This time he felt – what? He didn't know. He only knew that he wanted to see her again. Maybe it would be the last time.

"Yes?" she snapped as he approached her. "Who said you could talk to me?"

He merely stared. For a determinedly unattractive woman, she seemed so beautiful.

"Have I got something on my face, soldier?" she said.

There was only one way to go. He knew he could not face her death again.

"I'm sorry to disturb you, Sergeant," he said. Then he turned and walked away, knowing that he would never do this particular iteration again.

"What do you mean, I didn't go with you to Künera Dam?" said Rita. She, Cage and Carter were in the Weapons Repair room. Carter was holding two fingers behind his back. "You mean, I was killed at the farmhouse you mentioned, and you went on alone, is that it?"

"No," said Cage. "I mean that ... we never linked up. I hit the beach, I went through the battle, I found the car, I went on, I went to the dam."

"How many fingers – " said Carter.

"Shut up, Jeremy," said Cage. He suddenly realised why it had been so easy for him to kill the mimics at the farmhouse. They had been pawns that the Omega had sacrificed to get him to Künera Dam. A trap, subtle and complex. He had only managed to escape from the Alpha and die through quick thinking and dumb luck. Next time, he might not be so quick or so lucky.

"But ... why ... ?" said Rita.

Cage stared at her. "Because ... because ... because I couldn't bear to see you die again," he said.

Rita's face darkened. "You ... weak ... prick," she said, as she took out her gun.

"The Omega isn't at the Künera Dam," said Cage. "My guess is, it never was. Which explains why the nuke didn't work."

"The what?" said Carter.

"They knew we were coming," said Rita. "They ambushed us. The visions were a trap."

Carter looked ... confused. Understandably. This was a lot to process in the space of a few minutes. He took his two fingers from behind his back and looked at them. "Sorry, what's the Künera Dam got to do with anything?" he said.

"I saw it in my vision," said Cage. "A couple of images, anyway. You put the clues together and told us it was the Künera Dam, in Germany, in the mountains, near the Swiss border."

"I did? And how did I do that?"

"You never told me."

"Oh, well, this certainly saves me doing all that research. I suppose. Or does it?"

"But the point is that we can't trust the visions," said Rita.

"They wanted my blood," said Cage. "They want their power back."

"And they'll probably get it, now they know you," said Carter. "The next iteration where you have to fight, you can bet there'll be an Alpha there, waiting. Check and mate."

"What?" said Rita. "Check?"

"Game over," said Cage. "Unless ... we can change the rules." He picked up the odd little piece of equipment from the table. "What is this, anyway?"

Carter explained how the transponder worked. Was supposed to work. How this piece of junk didn't. How he had tried to built a prototype and had tried it explain it to General Brigham. How it had ended up in a safe in the General's office.

And then Rita and Cage were leaving for Whitehall, and Carter was staring at an empty room.

"Nuke?" he said.

END


End file.
